Find Your True North: Maximilian Büsser and the Watchmaking World of MB&F

Watchmaking may date back two centuries but in the hands of
Maximilian Büsser, it has been revived as a contemporary art
form. Büsser is the founder of MB&F, or Max Büsser and
Friends, which he describes as a “horological concept
laboratory.” 


Now MB&F has opened a gallery on Two Rodeo Drive, filled with
his collective’s kinetic art and mechanical art devices, like
World Sky by Breakfast Studio with whirring discs that spin
between functions: camera, mirror, and weather report; and the
MB&F’s Architect HM11, inspired by an organic Charles
Haertling house in Colorado, and comprising multiple “rooms.”


 


“We deconstruct traditional, beautiful, high end watchmaking and
reconstruct it into sculpture, which gives time,” Büsser tells
Lyn Winter, on the latest episode of Rodeo Drive - The
Podcast.  


Büsser shares his journey from being a directionless teen in
Switzerland to reaching the top of the watch business at
Jaeger-LeCoultre and Harry Winston, and then realizing he needed
to “find his true north.”  


“I started imagining this fairy tale, I was going to have my own
little company, where I would create only what I believed in. I
didn't want any investors. I didn't want anybody telling me about
growth and profits and all that stuff. It was all about, we're
going to create some incredible watchmaking, even though we know
there are no clients out there for it.”


Now MB&F has built a strong clientele willing to pay top
dollar for the company’s unusual timepieces. But it was not
always easy. Büsser reflects on the financial ups and downs, life
lessons learned along the way, and the things he wished he had
told his father. Finally, he revels in the joy of crafting
mechanical instruments with a group of “friends” who share his
obsession with “balance wheels,” “perpetual calendars” and other
analog components of horology.


Winter closes by asking if there is a future for such an old
world craft, and Büsser talks about the appeal of his company’s
products to young people.


“MB&F is all about, ‘Live your dreams’. Do whatever you
believe in. It is possible. Look at us. It seemed totally
impossible, but we managed. And so it resonates strongly with a
younger client base, and I love it.”


Season 5 of Rodeo Drive – The Podcast is presented by the Rodeo
Drive Committee with the support of The Hayman Family, Two Rodeo
Drive, Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, and the Beverly
Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau.


Season 5 Credits:


Executive Producer and Host: Lyn Winter


On behalf of the Rodeo Drive Committee: Kay Monica Rose


Scriptwriter and Editorial Advisor: Frances Anderton


Editor and Videographer: Hans Fjellestad


Theme music by Brian Banks


Production Assistant: Isabelle Alfonso.


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Visit the website: https://rodeodrive-bh.com/podcast/


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